BTW don't you see that áo ngũ than and áo dài never revealed any button like qipao does? Also the "high slit" of aodai is also more similar to áo tứ thân than to qipao.

I feel that in Manchu dresses, they create a low slit at around the knee just to make walking easy, not to make the dress "flow".

The high slits of aodai (which it inherited from áo ngũ thân and áo tứ thân) are there to make the dress "flow".

I know that slit difference and that's really what makes Ao Dai different, along with the fabric. But the collar and the way it's buttoned seems the same (going straight down, or to the right and down the side). There are ao dai that reveals buttons. I remember posting some old photos of Vietnamesein the 20th century with them wearing Ao Dai with buttons showing. Add to that the pants that are worn with it. Remember Vietnamese wore skirts up until Nguyen Dynasty.

It just feels so coincidental that we all of a sudden added in a collared style clothing similar to Qing clothing, and pantswhereas before it was nonexistent as seen in old paintings.

QUOTE (DOUBLEMINT @ Mar 21 2011, 03:20 AM)

Its possible.This painting is called 《安南國王至避暑山莊》 from 《十全敷藻圖冊》.Its about the king of vietnam went to beijing and asked the Qing emperor‘s permission to change viet clothing to Qing clothing.The emperor was very happy ,he even wrote a peom about it:<安南國王阮光平乞遵天朝衣冠>